12/20 Company E - 27th Anniversary Dance - 1990

13/20 Two Unidentified Soldiers - Company E - 1941

14/20 SGT. Lorenzo M. Luna - 1941

15/20 SGT. Lorenzo M. Luna - 1941

16/20 Sgt. Lorenzo M. Luna & Sgt. H. Kahl - 1941

17/20 Cpl. Macias - Company E - 1941

18/20 Company E - 1940 - 141st Infantry - 36th Division

19/20 Capt. John L. Chapin - Company E - 1940

20/20 Alex Rivas - With Dave Gutierrez - Company E

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Credit:: Courtesy of 36th Division Association

Capt. John L. Chapin - Company E - 1940

When most people in the Fort Bliss and El Paso communities hear the name “Chapin,” they think of the high school in the northeast neighborhood area. Most do not know the school is named after native El Pasoan and World War II hero Capt. John L. Chapin.

Chapin was born March 15, 1913, and attended grade school and high school in El Paso and Ysleta school districts. He met his wife, Velma, when he was 9 years old and they married April 21, 1937. He went on to earn a chemical engineering degree from Texas A&M in1936. A National Guard unit approached Chapin about becoming their chemical warfare officer. He decided to join them, because he wanted to attend medical school and the extra money would help him pay for it. He only planned on being in the unit for a year, but the unit was activated a short time later as E Company, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Division.

While in training, Chapin was promoted to captain and assumed command of the company. The men of E Co. respected Chapin for his skill as an officer and his fairness in dealing with daily grind of military duty. It was at this time that the men of E Co. gave Chapin his nickname, “Daddy Long Legs,” though most addressed him as “Captain John.”
The failed Rapido crossing Jan. 22, 1944, was a critical, but suicidal, mission. Chapin led his men across against heavy opposition. E Co. was one of the few units to actually get across the river. Chapin was found in his foxhole with a telephone in one hand and his carbine in the other. He earned the Silver Star for his heroics at the Rapido River.
http://fortblissbugle.com/those-who-came-before-%E2%80%A6-capt-john-l-chapin/

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Credit:: Martin Luna

Photograph taken at Camp Bowie - Brownwood, Texas. Company E, which was comprised of soldiers from El Paso, Texas, mostly from the Segundo Barrio and Bowie High School. SGT. Lorenzo M. Luna is to the left of the image kneeling. Other soldiers in the image are unidentified.

Company "E" was a group of men and boys, many of whom could not speak English, some from Juarez, all Hispanic, except for the officers, one of whom was 1st Lt. John L. Chapin. Many of these "boys" had dropped out of Austin, Bowie and El Paso High Schools to join the guard because they knew we were in for some tough battles in the future and they wanted to be trained. Company "E" left El Paso without much fanfare because this was still before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
http://www.texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/36division/archives/memorial/chapin.htm

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Credit:: Martin Luna

Unveiling ceremony - November 7, 2008.The Men of Company E Memorial is a bronze bass monument honoring a group of young Mexican-American soldiers from the City of El Paso who were sent to Southern Italy on a tragic mission to cross the Rapido River on the night of January 21, 1944. Amidst WWII, the river was heavily fortified by the German Army, making it what some historians describe as one of the insurmountable missions in World War II. Tragically, the Men of Company E, 141st Infantry, 36th Division, whom many now refer to as the Fallen Sons of El Paso, were killed in the attempt to cross a waterway saturated with barbed wire, mines, and artillery.
http://www.publicartarchive.org/work/men-company-e-memorial#date

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Credit:: Martin Luna

Unveiling ceremony - November 7, 2008.The Men of Company E Memorial is a bronze bass monument honoring a group of young Mexican-American Soldiers from the City of El Paso who were sent to Southern Italy on a tragic mission to cross the Rapido River on the night of January 21, 1944. Amidst WWII, the river was heavily fortified by the German Army, making it what some historians describe as one of the insurmountable missions in World War II. Tragically, the Men of Company E, 141st Infantry, 36th Division, whom many now refer to as the Fallen Sons of El Paso, were killed in the attempt to cross a waterway saturated with barbed wire, mines, and artillery.
http://www.publicartarchive.org/work/men-company-e-memorial#date

The El Paso Public Art Program invites the public to the unveiling of the Men of Company E Memorial, funded by the 2% for the arts program, on November 7th at the Chalio Acosta Recreation Center, located on 4321 Delta Drive, at 2:00pm.

The ribbon cutting and reception will be held in honor of local bronze artist Julio Sanchez de Alba, who has completed a memorial in honor of the Men of Company E, 141st Infantry, 36th Division, located on Delta Drive and Tobin Place.
http://elpaso.eventful.com/events/men-company-e-memorial-wall-unveiling-/E0-001-017121462-7

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Credit:: Martin Luna & Herald Post

Lorenzo Luna was a member of Company E. Hispanics of the 141st Regiment of the 36th Infantry Division were some of the first American troops to land on Italian soil at Salerno. Company E of the 141st Regiment was entirely Hispanic. In this article Luna is honored by veterans of Company E in the year 1964. Lorenzo Luna was the first, 1st Sergeant of Company E.

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Credit:: Ricardo Palacios III

Ricardo Palacios Jr. at Camp Bowie - Brownwood, Texas. Ricardo Palacios Jr. was a member of Company E. Location is Camp Bowie. Company E, which was comprised of soldiers from El Paso, Texas, mostly from the Segundo Barrio and Bowie High School.

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Credit:: Dave Gutierrez

The true WWII story of the men who served in the U.S. Army's all Mexican American combat unit the 36th Division 141st Combat Regiment 2nd Battalion Company E.

Patriots from the Barrio is the true story of a US Army combat unit during WWII. Author Dave Gutierrez started to research the biography of relative Ramon G. Gutierrez, who served in the Thirty-Sixth Division, 141st Regiment, Second Battalion, Company E. The unit was comprised entirely of Mexican Americans from the barrios of south Texas. Gutierrez spent four years on the research and compiled several individual stories to tell one incredible story of the US Army battles in Italy during WWII. Gutierrez records the sensitive subjects of discrimination, segregation of schools, and the illegal deportation of Mexican Americans during the Great Depression. Relative Ramon Gutierrez from Del Rio Texas was awarded the Silver Star and three Purple Hearts by the US Army. Captured by the enemy twice, he was able to escape and make it back across to Allied lines. He would also become one of only a handful of Americans to be decorated for valor on the battlefield by the Soviet Union during WWII. His true story and the men that served in the US Army’s unique and historical all Mexican American combat unit is chronicled in Patriots from the Barrio.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Patriots_from_the_Barrio.html?id=IjWuBAAAQBAJ

The Men of Company E Memorial is a bronze bass monument honoring the a group of young Mexican-American Soldiers from the City of El Paso who were sent to Southern Italy on a tragic mission to cross the Rapido River on the night of January 21, 1944. Amidst WWII, the river was heavily fortified by the German Army, making it what some historians describe as one of the insurmountable missions in World War II. Tragically, the Men of Company E, 141st Infantry, 36th Division, whom many now refer to as the Fallen Sons of El Paso, were killed in the attempt to cross a waterway saturated with barbed wire, mines, and artillery.

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Credit:: Martin Luna

Lorenzo Luna honored at the Paso Del Norte Hotel with dinner for members and wives. Luna is well remembered for his strict discipline dispensed to all the members and for developing some of the best soldiers in the division.

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Credit:: Courtesy of Alex Carrillo Jr.

Capt. John L. Chapin - Company E - 1940

Capt. John L. Chapin - Company E - 1940

When most people in the Fort Bliss and El Paso communities hear the name “Chapin,” they think of the high school in the northeast neighborhood area. Most do not know the school is named after native El Pasoan and World War II hero Capt. John L. Chapin.

Chapin was born March 15, 1913, and attended grade school and high school in El Paso and Ysleta school districts. He met his wife, Velma, when he was 9 years old and they married April 21, 1937. He went on to earn a chemical engineering degree from Texas A&M in1936. A National Guard unit approached Chapin about becoming their chemical warfare officer. He decided to join them, because he wanted to attend medical school and the extra money would help him pay for it. He only planned on being in the unit for a year, but the unit was activated a short time later as E Company, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Division.

While in training, Chapin was promoted to captain and assumed command of the company. The men of E Co. respected Chapin for his skill as an officer and his fairness in dealing with daily grind of military duty. It was at this time that the men of E Co. gave Chapin his nickname, “Daddy Long Legs,” though most addressed him as “Captain John.”
The failed Rapido crossing Jan. 22, 1944, was a critical, but suicidal, mission. Chapin led his men across against heavy opposition. E Co. was one of the few units to actually get across the river. Chapin was found in his foxhole with a telephone in one hand and his carbine in the other. He earned the Silver Star for his heroics at the Rapido River.
http://fortblissbugle.com/those-who-came-before-%E2%80%A6-capt-john-l-chapin/

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Credit:: EPMH

Alex Rivas from El Paso Texas was an original member of Company E Texas National Guard. Alex Rivas is center of the image next to Dave Gutierrez author of the book on Company E. to the left of the image. Photograph taken downtown El Paso, Texas after a lecture on Company E.